BX 9861 
.B7 S7 
1878 

Copy 1 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 

Chap. j3.X--9-S.-6-i- 
Shelf ___JIBX$i2 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



HALF A CENTURY 

OF THE 

SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 

BOSTON. 

Febr ua r y j, 1878. 



BO. 
N 03 




MEMORIALS OF THE HISTORY 



HALF A CENTUr 



^ OF THE 

SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH, 



BOSTON. 



(Mbtbir for \\% Iftifcite ©drftntiitm, 



February j, 1878. 




BOSTON: 

JranMrn ^xzmx 2ftattti, ^forg, $c Compang, 
1878. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Historical Discourse. Edward E. Hale 5 

Letters from Dr. Huntington 55 

The Sermons of our Fathers 60 

Hymns 87 

Notes : — 

A. — Original Members, etc. 1 1 1 

B. — Our Army and Navy List 116 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE 




BY EDWARD E. HALE. 



[This discourse was read on the morning of Feb. 3, 1878, — the day of 



E will devote this morning to some reminiscences 



of the history of this church, which this week 
celebrates its jubilee. As compared with the old church 
histories, there is something droll in dwelling much on 
the history of so short a time. But we speak of fifty 
years which have changed Boston from a small com- 
mercial town to be one of the large cities of the world ; 
which have changed this particular region where most 
of you live, from being the shooting-ground where boys 
lay in wait for marsh-birds, so that it is to-day the 
closely built centre of a new Boston. They are fifty 
years which have, in practice, changed the religion of 



the jubilee celebration.] 




6 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

this country from the conditions of a theological dogma 
which could be committed to memory by students, but 
was wholly outside the life of men, into those other 
conditions in which religion niters down into every 
organ and member of the State, quickens all life, and 
controls all duty. These are conditions in which re- 
ligion cannot be so easily denned ; as how should the 
Infinite be definable ? But the mass of men, whether 
they know it or not, are nearer God than they ever 
were ; and his rule of human affairs, or what men call 
his kingdom, is more distinctly defined every day. 
Such a half -century has changed so completely the 
external methods of our lives, and even the habits of 
our thoughts and feelings, that what seemed most sim- 
ple then seems quaint even now. And we find, as 
we always find, that nothing but faith and hope and 
love always abide, and are fresh and sweet and young 
forever. 

Three circles of people, acting with the same gen- 
eral purpose, united together in the simple efforts which 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 7 

resulted in the formation of this society. There were 
the people of the South End, particularly those who 
lived well up toward the Neck, who, in our later times, 
have been rather fond of calling themselves " Old South- 
Enders." But in fact, even within my memory, the 
term " South End," in Boston, applied to every thing 
this side of West Street. My own grandmother, who 
lived where the Globe Theatre now stands, removing 
into that house late in life, considered that she moved 
to the " South End." There has been a steady drift to 
the " South End " from the time when the " Old South " 
meeting-house at the corner of Milk Street was the 
southernmost church of all, and when John Hull, one 
of the founders of that church (who lived where Papan- 
ti's dancing-hall is to-day), spoke of his house being at 
the South End of his time. A hundred years after 
that, Fisher Ames, having walked down Beacon Street 
as far as the front of the State House, called it, in a 
letter, "walking out of town." 

Hollis-street Church, under the very popular minis- 
tries of Dr. Holley and of Mr. John Pierpont, who was 



8 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

settled there in 1819, was full ; and this is stated promi- 
nently as the motive of a circular, which was printed 
as early as 1825, and distributed at the South End 
among those who were invited to form a new religious 
society. It proposes a new Congregational church " for 
persons of the Congregational order and of liberal 
views." "The church in Hollis Street," it says, "is so 
crowded, that many families in this quarter are destitute 
of seats in any place of worship ; and many are now 
obliged to go a great distance, which is very inconven- 
ient, especially for females and children." Hollis-street 
Church was, in fact, more than a mile from some of the 
houses on Washington Street from which the new 
society drew attendants from the very first. The 
new church also had the spirited support, from the 
very beginning, of a little company at South Boston, 
who were its stalwart friends when it most needed 
stalwart friends. Mr. Cyrus Alger joined cordially in 
the undertaking, and he supported it heartily till his 
death. 

The wish of these persons, urged by the increase of 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 9 

the population, fell in with the plans of a body of far- 
sighted men, to whom Boston owes a great deal, and 
whose work in visible monuments exists all around us. 
As early as 1822 there was formed among the men of 
religious habit, of catholic opinion, and of public spirit, 
in this city, a club or association which had for its object 
the real religious life of Boston as it might show itself, 
not simply in churches, but in organized institutions of 
charity. It finally used the name, if that is such, of 
the "Anonymous Club." The ministers of the older 
churches were generally invited to its meetings, though 
not formal members of the club ; Dr. Channing, Pro- 
fessor Norton, both the Wares (father and son), Dr. Park- 
man, Dr. Walker, and Dr. Palfrey being prominent. 
Among laymen, Josiah Quincy, Jonathan Phillips, Wil- 
liam Sullivan, Richard Sullivan, Stephen Higginson, 
Charles G. Loring, George Bond, Benjamin Guild, 
George B. Emerson, Lewis and Charles Tappan, and 
David Reed, are still remembered. From the plans of 
this club, which met as a social club from month to 
month at the house of its members, grew the charities 



IO SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

which we call w The Ministry at Large," " The Indus- 
trial Aid Society," and much of our Sunday-school work. 
And, which concerns us to-day, three churches — the 
Eleventh Congregational (Dr. Barrett's), the Twelfth 
Congregational in Purchase Street, and our South Con- 
gregational — were largely indebted, in the outset, to the 
co-operation of this association. Its plans, as far as 
church-building went, were simple. Its members ob- 
tained subscriptions for twenty-three thousand dollars, 
in shares of a hundred dollars each, for the building 
of a new church. They built the church in Chambers 
Street with this sum. They formed in that neighbor- 
hood a congregation of liberal Congregationalists. So 
soon as the church was finished, the congregation proved 
large enough to buy the pews, to pay the association ; 
and it had in hand its twenty-three thousand dollars for 
another enterprise. Measures had already been taken 
for the establishment of the church in Purchase Street, 
afterward removed to Harrison Avenue. So soon as 
that church was built, it was understood — perhaps never 
definitely promised — that the same aid would be ex- 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. II 

tended in the same way to the movement at the South 
End of Boston, if the population desired it. The part 
assumed by this association was virtually the lending of 
the capital for the building of the church, in the confi- 
dence that the movers would have strength enough to 
repay it. When repaid, the money could be used for 
the same purpose again. 

I said there were three knots of coadjutors in the 
undertaking. The third consisted of attached friends 
of Dr. Horace Holley, who had for so many years 
been the admired and beloved minister of Hollis-street 
Church. The generation to which I speak does not 
hear so much as, in my boyhood, I heard of his elo- 
quence. But in his day no language was too extrav- 
agant for its praise. The large and beautiful Hollis- 
street Church, which still stands, was built to make 
room for the throngs who came to hear him. It was 
crowded with delighted congregations. In the contro- 
versy with Orthodoxy, then beginning, Holley out- 
stripped his more staid brethren of the other liberal 
pulpits, and went where men went farthest. I have 



12 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

heard him called the Theodore Parker of his time. 
But this word only describes the attention his preach- 
ing secured ; for the two men were different through 
and through. I have heard, on the other hand, people 
speak as if he were nothing but an orator; as if he 
had no heart, and, at bottom, no religion. But this 
is not true. It has been my fortune to know some 
aged persons in our church whose earliest religious 
convictions were gained from Holley. I remember a 
lady who could repeat, after half a century, the very 
words of a prayer in which he had prayed with her. 1 
In listening to such stories as depreciate him, one 
must remember that controversy was waxing hot, and 
that people who did not agree with Holley did not 
mince the words with which they spoke. In 1 8 1 8 he 

1 A Part of Mr. Holley's Prayer. — Our Father and the Father of our 
Lord Jesus Christ, we implore thy blessing and protection, thine aid and assist- 
ance, and the pardon of all our sins. Oh, eradicate from our minds every pas- 
sion and prejudice which is hostile to thy pure and holy religion, a foe to our 
own happiness and the happiness of our fellow-creatures, and ruinous to our 
souls. [She was kind enough to write this for me in March, 1861 ; and I print it 
here. — E. E. H.] 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1 3 

left Hollis Street to become the president of Transyl- 
vania University in Kentucky. Never was a more 
unfortunate appointment. The bigoted Presbyterianism 
of all that new-born State, opened upon him. Holley 
really wanted to make a university, not to build up a 
sect. But he was dissatisfied, and resigned the presi- 
dency. He intimated to his friends here that he would 
like to return. He did leave Lexington, established 
himself in New Orleans, and took measures there for 
opening a school. But some of his friends in Boston 
wrote to him that a new church would be built at the 
South End. Probably with some expectation of being 
its minister, he sailed from New Orleans to Boston in 
the summer of 1827. These friends of his joined in 
the new movement ; and from each of these three 
circles may be found members in the early business- 
meetings of our society. 

As early as April 19, 1825, the first meeting was 
held to take into consideration the erection of a new 
church in the southern part of the city. It is worth 
notice that this was on the public anniversary of the 



14 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

battle of Lexington, which was that day celebrated 
with the enthusiasm which belongs to the end of half 
a century. Alden Bradford, the former secretary of 
the Commonwealth, was chosen chairman, and Henry 
H. Fuller secretary. This meeting appointed a com- 
mittee of ten to make inquiry relative to the necessity 
and expediency of such a church. On this committee 
were Thomas Brewer, Stephen Fairbanks, John Dog- 
gett, Luke Baldwin, William Read, John P. Thorndike, 
Abraham W. Fuller, Parker Fowle, Henry Hatch, and 
Gerry Fairbanks. This committee drew the circular 
from which I have already quoted. It is simple, and 
well drawn. It says that "a society of Congregation- 
alists of liberal views may be formed, in consequence 
of the increased and increasing population in the 
vicinity of Boylston Market, without making inroads 
upon those already established." The circular inti- 
mates that pecuniary aid may. be received from per- 
sons who expect no pecuniary advantage, solely for the 
purpose of encouraging the erection of another place 
of worship for those of the Congregational persuasion, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 15 

" who, we rejoice to believe, are increasing among us, 
and whose religious sentiments are so much in unison 
with the genius and nature of our free civil institu- 
tions." This remark belongs to the day on which the 
meeting was held and the appeal prepared. A subscrip- 
tion-paper was annexed to the circular, which provides 
for a subscription, in shares of a hundred dollars, for 
" A new Congregational church for the accommodation 
of Christians of liberal sentiments in the vicinity of 
Boylston Market." 

All this movement was undoubtedly stimulated by 
the vigorous movements of Orthodox New England in 
its attempts to reconvert Boston. My distinguished 
friend, Dr. Edward Beecher, has lately given a spirited 
narration of these attempts in his half-century sermon 
at Park Street, in language which I should find little 
occasion to change. The Hanover-street Church was 
built for Dr. Lyman Beecher ; and was dedicated on the 
ist of March, 1826. The Salem-street Church was or- 
ganized Sept. 1, 1827. The Green-street Church was 
organized Oct. 25, 1826. The Union Church had been 



1 6 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

gathered as early as 1822. These were the new Ortho- 
dox congregations. On the Liberal side the Bulfinch- 
street Church had been founded in 1822; the Cham- 
bers-street Church and that in Purchase Street, in 
1825. And while our church was formed for the ben- 
efit of " Christians of liberal sentiments near Boylston 
Market," equally earnest efforts were going forward 
for the benefit of " Christians of the Congregational 
persuasion" near Boylston Market, who would not 
claim to be of liberal sentiments. These efforts re- 
sulted in the dedication of the Pine-street Church, now 
the Berkeley-street Church, on Christmas Day, 1827, — 
a little more than a month before the completion of 
ours. And, as I have thus spoken of them as being 
built in a sort of rivalry, I may as well say that they 
have always lived together in perfect harmony. When 
their church was burned, we were happy to offer ours 
for their use. The pastors have always been intimate 
friends ; and at this hour I believe these two are the 
largest Protestant churches in this city, of those which 
occupy their own houses for religious worship, and do 
not meet in the large halls at the centre of the town. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 17 

Through the whole of our history, from 1825 to 
this time, I suppose that the word " Unitarian " does 
not appear anywhere on our official records in con- 
nection with the name of the church. Our ministers 
have always been active members of the Unitarian 
Association ; but to them and to the church the word 
" Unitarian " has always meant simply the purest form 
of Christianity that they could find. Nor has there 
ever been any reason why persons of any Christian 
communion — from the Roman Catholic on one side, to 
the most extreme Quaker on the other — should not 
unite with us if they wished to do so. 

Under such auspices a subscription was begun in 1825 
for funds to build a church. It did not at first succeed ; 
but it was renewed in 1827. The neighborhood of Boyl- 
ston Market is no longer spoken of : the limit is simply 
" in the southern part of the city." One hundred and 
fifty shares, at a hundred dollars each, were subscribed 
for ; a small part only by the South-End people, and 
the larger part, I think, by the assistance of the asso- 
ciation to which I have referred. Incorporation of 



1 8 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

these subscribers was procured, and a lot of land pur- 
chased from parties who were represented by Mr. 
Cyrus Alger. This was the site of the old church, at 
the corner of Castle Street. The land cost ten thou- 
sand dollars, — a little more than a dollar a foot. A 
plan for a church was furnished by Mr. T. W. Sumner, 
which they hoped to build for thirteen thousand dol- 
lars. But Mr. Sumner never liked to be called the 
architect, so much was his plan changed in the frugal 
necessities of building. They allowed thirty-five hun- 
dred dollars for contingencies, and thus expected to 
pay for church and land with twenty-seven thousand 
dollars. The building committee appointed as a sub- 
committee Mr. Marsh, Mr. Emery, and Mr. Hunting ; 
and most zealously they did their work. They sub-let 
the work in contracts to men who would take pews in 
part pay : so that house was not a bad specimen of 
co-operative labor. Thus our dear friend Mr. Byram 
made the framing and casing of the windows, and 
subscribed for one share. He was always proud of 
telling the story. One gallery was built by one firm, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 1 9 

and the other by another rival firm ; half the pews on 
the floor by one contractor, and the other half by 
another : but, of these four firms, each took three 
pews. The gutters were paid for in pews, and a 
quarter part of the cupola. Of one hundred and sixty 
pews in the church, twenty were thus disposed of. 
The land and building cost eventually $33,881.66; 
the furniture and fixtures, $1,693.60. Thirty-three 
years afterwards, when we removed hither, the land 
and building were sold to Harvard College for thirty- 
six thousand dollars, — an advance of twenty-one 
hundred and eighteen dollars on what they cost the 
society. 

So far as the founders of the church hoped for the 
prestige which it would gain from the ministry of Dr. 
Holley, they were disappointed. On his return from 
.Kentucky to Boston he died of yellow-fever on ship- 
board, in the Gulf of Mexico. On the 7th of August, 
1827, his friends here laid the corner-stone of the 
church, with fervent prayer, and with high hopes that 
he would soon join them. But, a week before that 



20 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

day, his body had been buried in the sea, though they 
did not then know of their disappointment. In his 
death is to be found the reason why so many of 
those who had joined in the original plans for the 
church never joined afterwards in its worship. They 
were interested on his account only, and never became 
members of the congregation. It was therefore, 
almost without exception, the South-Enders, and, I 
may say, the South-Enders of the highest power, — 
the South-Enders of the South-Enders, — who, with 
the help of their South Boston allies, organized the 
church. Without waiting for the completion of the 
building, they met Sundays for religious services in 
a little hall in the third story of a house between 
Castle and Orange Streets, on Washington Street. It 
was removed when the grade of Shawmut Avenue was 
changed: it never could have held a hundred people. 
The services there were maintained by students from 
the Divinity School, and by such of the Boston preach- 
ers as were disengaged. 

The old legend, which many of you have heard, was, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 21 

that the building committee built the walls of the 
church till their money was spent, and then put on 
the roof ; and this is familiarly given as the cause 
of a somewhat truncated aspect of the edifice. But 
this is purely mythical. The restriction from the be- 
ginning was, that the committee should use " the most 
economical plan possible." It is true that Mr. Sumner 
had proposed a ceiling which should rise in arches 
from the four sides, and that for this was substituted 
the flat ceiling which we remember. 

The committee arranged for a dedication on the 30th 
of January ; and Dr. Channing agreed to preach. His 
name was printed on the programme for the services. 
But, as sometimes happened, his health failed him just 
when he was needed most ; and, at the last moment, 
Mr. Henry Ware, jun., took his place. His son, Mr. 
John Ware, read this sermon to us again in the old 
church on the first Sunday of 1862, — the last Sunday 
when we met in that building. The services were 
largely attended. The day was fine : the music, per- 
formed by a large choir, was acceptable ; and Mr. 



22 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Ware's sermon profoundly interesting. The text is, 
" Sanctify them through thy truth;" and the subject 
is the value of religious doctrine. Mr. Pierpont led 
the congregation in the prayer of dedication. There 
are still living those who joined in the choir that day. 
The instrumental music was of five pieces, — a bass- 
viol, a violoncello, two violins, and a clarinet. Among 
the musical artists who have since won distinction 
was Miss Charlotte Cushman, then in her twelfth year, 
unconscious that her after-triumphs were to be those 
of the stage. Two hymns were written for the occa- 
sion, — one by Charles Sprague, chairman of the stand- 
ing committee; and one by Mr. Pierpont, the friendly 
minister of their sister-church in Hollis Street. The 
services were too long for the singing of the second 
hymn. The first will be sung in our service this after- 
noon. Both these names — Sprague and Pierpont — 
are classical in the very short list of our American 
lyric poets. 

The hearty and general enthusiasm of the dedication 
was followed up with spirit. The Boston ministers 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 23 

preached for a few Sundays ; but, almost immediately, 
the pulpit was supplied by the students of the senior 
class in the Divinity School, We have the letters of 
Mr. R. Waldo Emerson, Mr. Farley, Mr. Thayer, Mr. 
Whitwell, and Mr. Bascomb, in answer to invitations 
to preach. 1 But very early in the spring Mr. Mellish 
Irving Motte had won the interest of the congregation. 
Of the distinguished South-Carolina family of that 
name, Mr. Motte had recently left the ministry of the 
Episcopal Church, and joined our wider communion. 
The pungency and sometimes quaintness of his address 
always interested hearers ; and the spirit of his delivery, 
I fancy, riveted attention in the midst of the staid 
and more familiar Cambridge oratory. The other 
gentlemen preached each one Sunday. Mr. Motte was 
soon asked to preach three, and was then at once 
called to be the minister of the new-formed church. 

1 After fifty years, we may be permitted to say that Mr. Emerson, who had 
at first consented to preach, declined, because of the competition implied in an 
invitation to five gentlemen together. Indeed, I have heard it said that they 
were spoken of as "the five." 



24 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

The modest salary of twelve hundred dollars was offered 
to him. He accepted the call, and was installed on the 
2 ist of May. At his installation a large council con- 
vened and an immense congregation. Those days 
were simpler than these ; and the services began at 
nine in the morning. Business-men now grudge giv- 
ing up the business-part of a day for these services ; 
but those men did not so count time. Mr. Pierpont 
and Mr. Sprague furnished new hymns. Mr. Pierpont's, 
without his name, is in our hymn-book : it is the hymn 
No. 37, beginning, " Let there be light." Dr. Channing 
preached a sermon, which will be found in his pub- 
lished works. One thing may be said of it, which is, 
perhaps, without precedent and without parallel since, 
— the society printed it, and sold two editions for one 
hundred dollars clear profit. With this money the 
first books for the Sunday school were bought, and the 
service of plate still used on the communion-table. 
To that service, the first addition made was in Dr. 
Huntington's ministry; and the only other addition is 
the gift, a few years since, of our friends in Hungary, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 25 

— of a piece of their ancient plate, made the year after 
they last drove the Turks from their soil. To mark 
our cups with the inscription that they were the gift 
of William Ellery Charming will give new interest 
to them in the eyes of our children's children. 

I am permitted to copy from the diary of the vener- 
able Isaac Child. His note is : " Attend installation- 
service of Mr. Motte; much talent and truth. The 
sermon by Dr. Channing." 

And the next Sunday : " Hear two most appropriate 
and instructive discourses from our new pastor ; appar- 
ently admired by his hearers." 

Of such a ministry as Mr. Motte's — covering the 
establishment of all the institutions of a church, 
including vigorous and loyal efforts to reduce the 
debt incurred in building; exhibiting the steady 
growth of a faithful parish in which were no very 
rich men, and where everybody was willing to lend 
a hand — the story is not to be told in five minutes. 
There are those who hear me who can speak eloquently 
and kindly of the devotion of Mr. Motte and his admi- 



26 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

rable wife, and of their success in all the true work 
of the Christian ministry. The Sunday school was 
established at once ; Mr. Motte the first superintend- 
ent. At its first meeting, June 13, there were twenty 
teachers and seventy children present. The corpora- 
tion, from the first, regarded the school as its charge, 
and appropriated the money needed for its support. 
A body of communicants, consisting of twelve men 
and twelve women, had united in a simple church cove- 
nant the week before the dedication. Early in the 
history of the church Mr. Motte said, that, in such 
services as those of the Lord's Supper, the young 
should wait upon the old ; and for a period Mr. 
Charles Nazro and Mr. Henry James Nazro, then young 
men just entering manhood, were his assistants at the 
table ; one of these gentlemen, in his youth, thus per- 
forming the service, which, since the death of our senior 
deacons, he has often performed in late years. 

In the administration of charity, on the 13th of March, 
1833, one hundred and twenty-eight ladies united in 
forming the " South Friendly Society." Its object was 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 2J 

then, as it is now, broader than that of a sewing-club 
which makes clothing for the poor. It proposed the 
relief, especially, of sick and aged persons. It arranged, 
in the outset, for visiting within the regions south of 
Kneeland and Eliot Streets. From that day to this 
it has extended its usefulness, — sometimes spreading 
a tent on the banks of the Tennessee River, and some- 
times teaching children to read in the valleys of the 
higher Rocky Mountains. It is recollected, that when 
the ladies met for the first time, and discussed the 
great question of a name, they left the decision to 
their minister, who was in his study. He wrote 
<' South Friendly Society " on a slip of paper, and sent 
it down. That " lot," or " oracle " as the Bible would 
have called it, should have been preserved. 

The church bought its land subject to a mortgage 
of eighty-five hundred dollars. The sale of its pews, 
at first, yielded only about half the cost of the land 
and building. As early as April, 1832, the various 
debts thus arising amounted to twenty-six thousand 
dollars. At that time a very spirited subscription, 



28 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

headed by Mr. Cyrus Alger with five thousand dol- 
lars, reduced this debt to $5,802.50. The society still 
had pews which were valued at $7,095. This debt, 
with enlargements from various causes, hung as a bur- 
den upon the church until 1849, when the corporation 
disposed of all its pews to individuals ; and thus the 
bold adventure of the beginning was, after nineteen 
years, to be pronounced successful, 

I must not attempt to read the notes (curious and 
sometimes amusing) which I have collected on the 
arrangements for the music. Many members of this 
church were interested members of the Handel and 
Haydn Society, which was founded in 181 5. After 
three years, in which the instruments were such as I 
have named, an organ was bought, formerly the property 
of the Handel and Haydn Society ; and this was used for 
fifteen or twenty years more. The choir was conducted 
in Mr. Motte's time by Mr. Samuel Davis, and afterward 
by our friend of to-day, Mr. John G. Roberts. 

But I must not linger on those details of our infancy. 
After fifteen years of a faithful ministry Mr. Motte 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 29 

resigned. This afternoon, perhaps, he will tell us why. 
fie had done the boldest thing a young minister can do, 
— he had taken the charge of a church heavily in debt. 
A loyal parish, fond of him and true to him, had nearly 
relieved itself of this obligation. I think he thought he 
had done his share, and I think he was right. Once in 
that time he had asked relief for six months, that he 
might travel for his health : for the rest he was at his 
post in all the details of the endless duty of building up 
a church in a new part of the town. 

With very little hearing of candidates, the parish 
called as his successor Mr. Frederic Dan Huntington 
as soon as he left the Divinity School ; and he was 
ordained Oct. 19, 1842. I like to look on one or two of 
the early pictures of his fresh face in those days, and 
wonder that he and I ever looked so young, We were 
near and intimate friends. But I am not afraid that 
friendship will make me overstep any line in speaking 
of his successful ministry. I think my brethren in the 
profession here would acknowledge that . all of our 
churches here took a step forward in those years. I 



30 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

think they would own that the days of simply ethical 
preaching, of preaching on what are called practical 
subjects of demeanor and behavior, gave way in those 
years, in our pulpit, to the more intense and eager 
preaching which is not satisfied until the whole man is 
quickened, and his whole life is fired. And I think that 
the generation of men now in the pulpit, who are old 
enough, would say, that, for this region, Mr. Huntington, 
though he was so young, was a leading man in this 
revival. At the same time he was an organizer, as he 
has always been. I have been told, that in college he 
was called in joke the "major-general;" and I can well 
believe it. He did not mean to do all the work of a 
church himself, active and eager though he was : he 
meant to have its members work, and, where he led the 
way, they followed loyally. To him as much as to any 
man Boston owes the systematic arrangement of the 
Provident Association for the relief of the poor, set on 
foot, I believe, by Rev. Charles F. Barnard of Warren- 
street Chapel and his friends in the southern wards, and 
afterwards enlarged to take in all the city. To him more 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 3 1 

than to any other man does the Unitarian Association 
owe its efficiency as a book-publishing association in the 
line of work in which it has succeeded best. In the 
same spirit he set on foot our Board of Charities here, 
which has worked on his plans from that day to this. 
In his time our connection with the Benevolent Frater- 
nity was so developed as to give to that institution new 
life. He said one day to this parish, that, if the Frater- 
nity was worth any thing, it was worth more than the 
driblet we then gave it. He proposed we should give 
a thousand dollars that year. The parish agreed with 
him, raised the money, and gave it. Such a thing had 
never been heard of in the Fraternity's annals. The 
rich down-town churches had hardly dreamed of such 
lavishness ; and here this little church of yesterday — 
this South-End church, built, nobody knew where, and 
nobody knew by whom — had out-told them all. It 
wakened all the dead bones ; and from a revenue of a 
few thousands, from that hour to this the Benevolent 
Fraternity has considered twelve thousand dollars as 
its legitimate annual income, — as it is. I think it 



32 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

is mere justice to Mr. Huntington to say that this 
was his way. If a thing were worth doing, it were 
worth doing well. 

Nor can I express the grief, mingled with rage, 
nor the rage, not tempered with grief, when Harvard 
College — which always strikes high, and always means 
to get the best — put her hand on this man for her 
own. Never was a ministry more successful than his 
had been for fourteen years. The church was full ; 
its debt was paid ; the charities were admirably ad- 
ministered ; the Sunday school was in perfect order. 
More than this, — oh, so much more than this ! — 
hearts had found living food here that had hungered 
and thirsted elsewhere. Poor, weary birds, that had 
been tossed and ruffled under hard gales outside, had 
taken shelter under these branches, and found rest. 
Here were those who had heard no peace elsewhere, 
and who had found it here. Here were voices plead- 
ing with God, and finding answer, who had not known 
how to plead before. Here was sin repentant and 
forgiven. Here were exiles who had been lost, and 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 33 

were found. Here were those who were all alone in 
a strange city, and in this church, in its fellowship 
and in its minister, had found companionship and a 
new life. 

There was no whisper or thought of dissatisfaction. 
The bolt which fell was from a clear sky. But the 
college had received a new endowment. Miss Plummer 
of Salem had endowed a professorship, of which the 
incumbent was to be the minister and spiritual friend 
of the students. It was the professorship of the 
heart, and not of the head, she said. The college 
had before asked Dr. George Putnam to accept a simi- 
lar position, — by all odds the first among our preach- 
ers. It was said he would accept ; and all Harvard 
men were delighted. Those were just the days when 
Thomas Arnold's life made us feel how large a place 
religion takes in the conduct of such schools. But 
Dr. Putnam declined. Still, that the college corpora- 
tion asked him, was to say they thought — and I 
think all men agreed with them — that this spirit- 
ual oversight of hundreds of the picked young men 



34 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

of New England, at the critical epoch of their life, 
was the first honor to which a New-England clergy- 
man could be called, and, probably, the first duty. 
Dr. Putnam was Mr. Huntington's near friend. I do 
not doubt Mr. Huntington had urged him to accept 
that post. When a similar one, with only larger 
opportunities, was offered to him, in turn, he accepted 
it. All the world that loved the college was de- 
lighted, except the South Congregational Church. I 
remember just the same thing in 1830, when Harvard 
College called Mr. Palfrey from Brattle Street. I 
think no person was angry with Mr. Huntington : 
but, as I say, for the college there was anger ; in 
the church there was grief. How, indeed, was that 
place ever to be filled ? 

Nor was it ever filled. It is very, very seldom 
that men's places are filled. Nearly a year wore by ; 
and, quite by accident, I preached in the old pulpit, 
and was asked to settle here. I remember saying at 
the time, that, if ever two men were unlike, they were 
Mr. Huntington and I. And I remember our dear 



historical discourse::* \j 

friend, so lately gone from %^^Qr^K^^^ 
said that this was no harm. He said, 




ou minis- 



ters are always thinking of your theology. Now, this 
parish thinks that Mr. Huntington was quite in earnest 
in what he said in the pulpit, and it thinks you are. 
That is the whole." There never were wiser words, 
nor words which better expressed the relations of a 
minister to his people. A call to a minister gives 
him an honorable chance to show what he is fit for. 
That is all. No parish can make him more than he 
is, though unkindness or meanness or neglect may 
make him less. You can keep the water of a foun- 
tain below its level ; but you cannot raise it higher. 
Because Dr. Clarke said these words to me I came 
here ; and when I came — why, I began one and twenty 
happy years. 

Of those years, again, the history cannot be told 
in the minutes that are left us. Why should I try ? 
Many of us remember the whole. I could speak of 
it with almost as little difficulty as of Mr. Motte's or 
Mr. Huntington's pastorate. For, as you will bear 



36 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

me witness, I have tried in these one and twenty 
years to make you feel that it is the congregation, 
the church in the broad sense of the word, which 
wins these victories, or suffers these reverses, and not 
the minister. I have always taught you that the 
duties of a priest in the Romish system devolve on 
a congregation in our system, and not on its minister 
alone. I should be untrue to the congregation if I 
did not say, that, in its experience of fifty years, it has 
learned that lesson well. I mean, that, when I came 
here, I found a real person, — who lived and moved, 
and had a being, — whose name was " the South Con- 
gregational Church." I found men, women, boys, and 
girls, who were loyal to that church. I found that 
that church had a character, had personality and 
life ; and this day her character is worth more than 
any man's character, in so far that her personality can 
achieve more than any man's personality, and her life 
will outlive, any man's life. This ideal church is not, 
in our case, a mere figment of the law. You are all 
conscious of the sway which she can exert ; nay, 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 37 

most of you are conscious of her power over you. 
For certain visible duties of charity over a certain 
region of this town this church is responsible. In 
certain grave duties of missions to the end of the 
earth this church is responsible. For hospitality to 
strangers who may come to live in our borders this 
church is responsible. And for a duty and a pleasure 
more solemn and more glad, infinitely more than are 
either of these, — for the exquisite communion of man 
with God in the ecstasy of worship, as father and 
children, children and father, meet fondly here, in 
song, in prayer, or in silence, — for this best gift of 
all, this church is responsible. I should be false in- 
deed if I did not say that I thought she had humbly 
and loyally met her responsibility. 

It was in the period of Mr. Huntington's ministry 
that this part of the town became another place from 
what it was ; for two physical improvements, made by 
far-seeing men who had to press them in the face of 
much opposition, so changed this whole region, for near 
a mile each way from where we are, that it is no 



38 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

longer a pasture for cows, or a desert for sportsmen, 
but is the best built section of Boston, laid out with 
most system, and containing a larger number of the 
best classes of her people than any other region of 
the same area. These two physical improvements 
were the raising the grade of the streets above the old 
level of the marsh, and the introduction of pure water 
from Cochituate. The first, the raising the street- 
level, was forced on the city by the crossing of the 
Worcester Railroad at Tremont Street. Although 
the conservatives of that day struggled to keep Tre- 
mont Street down, and to have what is called a 
" grade-crossing " there, more far-sighted views pre- 
vailed after discussion. The higher level of the 
other streets followed immediately, and all the advan- 
tages which that change gave for a better drainage 
and better houses than were possible on the level. 
But nobody could have lived here without water to 
drink. The pure water of Cochituate was introduced; 
and then the South End was changed, almost as by 
enchantment. The emigration from other parts of 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 39 

the city was marvellous. Since I came here, I remem- 
ber one Thanksgiving party in this part of the town, 
at which met members of eleven families residing 
here, all of whom, twelve months before, had lived 
in the northern ward of all. 

Without trying to follow the details in the home- 
like annals of such duties, let me adopt a suggestion 
which has been made to me, and try to show to 
the younger half of this audience what a church like 
this did in the war. There is nothing distinctive 
about it. Every church took hold in this way. But 
this illustrates what I mean when I say that a 
church has its duties quite beyond and outside a 
minister's ; and its history should not be the biogra- 
phy of the pastor merely, but the record of its own 
work, prayer, and life. We had the news that Fort 
Sumter was fired upon on Sunday. I was at Port- 
land, ill with a heavy influenza. I returned to find 
our church-vestries crowded with the women of the 
congregation, who had met to provide flannels and 
other clothing for the soldiers, as soon as Gov. 



40 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Andrew had ordered out the Fifth, Sixth, and 
Eighth Regiments to move in twenty-four hours for 
Washington. Ladies sent down ' their sewing-ma- 
chines, and went to work them. In our archives is 
the receipt from the Commonwealth for the cloth- 
ing which three days' work furnished at that time. 
Those three days, I think, were the 16th, 17th, and 
1 8th of April. They began a series of army work 
which did not end until Dec. 22, 1865. On that 
day Gov. Andrew ordered a parade of our veteran 
regiments to bring their tattered banners home to 
the State House. I noticed, as I read my morn- 
ing paper, that the column would pass our church. 
I sent to Mrs. Tilton, who was at the head of our 
Tea-committee, to ask if the Friendly Society could 
give the boys coffee. She thought they could ; and, 
when the column passed that cold morning, a thou- 
sand or two soldiers drank their hot coffee as they 
passed us, and took our last benediction as five 
years of war and its consequences went by. For 
we dedicated this new church in the first year of 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 4 1 

the war, and painted " Glory to God in the Highest" 
on the walls, — the true Unitarian motto, the begin- 
ning of the gospel. On the day when Richmond fell 
and the war ended, the committee on the house sent 
for the painter, and bade him add, what we had no 
heart to paint before, — " Peace on Earth and Good 
Will to Men." 

Well, between those beginnings and those ends, the 
organizations of the church were in daily activity for 
the support of the army, the relief of its sick, the 
care of prisoners and refugees, and the education of 
freedmen. The first teachers who went to Port Royal 
to teach blacks were my assistant and one of our Sun- 
day-school teachers. 1 The flannel shirts on the com- 
pany who fell martyrs at Shiloh in the gray of the 
morning, and saved that day for the nation, were made 
in this vestry. The young men who first appeared in 
charge of a hospital-steamer after the horrors of that 
eventful battle, were young physicians from this church, 
who had with them supplies which you had forwarded. 2 

1 Rev. Charles E. Rich and Mr. George N. Boynton. 

2 Dr. John Green and Dr. Abrain Wilder. 



42 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

The editor of the first newspaper published in a rebel 
prison was one of our boys, who had volunteered the 
first day, and had been taken prisoner at Bull Run. 1 
The news of the horrors of the second Bull Run came 
on Sunday morning. Ladies did not go home from 
the church, but staid in the vestries to tear bandages, 
to pack boxes and see them forwarded by the right 
expresses. I have given notices from the pulpit here, 
that hospital-attendants were needed by the Sanitary ; 
and men have started the same evening on service 
which lasted for years. We once had from Richmond 
a private intimation of methods by which Union officers 
could be supplied with home stores. We needed a hun- 
dred and ten private letters written to as many Northern 
homes : I told the ladies of my class this ; and the 
long letters were written and posted before night. I 
think — but am not certain — that the only ether 
and chloroform which came to the hospital in Rich- 
mond where Union officers were treated in the spring 
of 1864 was boxed and sent from this church. I know 
I superintended the packing of two or three boxes 

1 Mr. George E. Bates of the Fifth Regiment. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 43 

of playing-cards for our own hospitals at that time. 
All this time the system was going forward by which 
we forwarded the stores to hospitals, and even regi- 
ments, which exigencies outside the regulations sud- 
denly required. And, when you go beyond what was 
physically done within these walls, there is no end to 
such stories. Men and women gave money like water. 
The words " public spirit," the " public breath," got an 
interpretation and meaning they have never lost. God 
grant they never may ! 

Thus much for what the church did for those who 
were fighting the battles. The list of our young men 
who went to fight them, beside those who served in 
the Sanitary Association and in the hospitals and 
schools, contains fifty-four names. I find three generals, 
three colonels, seven captains, besides officers of other 
grades, in that number. Of the fifty-four, seven were 
killed in battle ; and we must remember them among 
our martyrs. One regiment, the Forty-fourth Massa- 
chusetts, 1 took, I think, sixteen of my boys. 

1 We print in a note at the end of this volume the hasty list, made one morn- 



44 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Think what an education this was for us all ! I re- 
member saying, when one of the last quotas was to be 
filled, that I would preach of nothing but the duties of 
the war till the quotas were filled ; that, when the young 
men tired of going, I would go myself, and leave them 
to do the preaching. Nor did I preach of any thing 
else for that time. When things seemed to look black- 
est, President Lincoln used to proclaim a Fast ; and 
such a Fast came on the 4th of August, 1864, in the 
middle of dog-days. Everybody of the congregation 
was out of town. But I came into town to the service ; 
and I stood up here to preach from the text, " King- 
dom shall be divided against kingdom, and nation 
against nation. But he that endureth to the end shall 
be saved." As I gave out the text, Mr. Sargent 
brought me a telegram. I said to myself, " If it is bad 
news, it may wait : if it is good news, I can wait." I 

ing a little before the close of the war, of the young men of the church who person- 
ally shared in it. It is undoubtedly incomplete; but it will show how wide is the 
range of such service. One of the major-generals in our list used to flatter me by 
saying that I taught him the "manual of arms." — E. E. H. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 45 

laid the telegram by my side, unopened, and preached 
the sermon. After the service, I opened it to read that 
a steamer was on its way to Boston, with a large num- 
ber of black women, — emancipated slaves, refugees 
from their homes in the South. We were requested 
to have homes ready for fifty such persons. I went 
down stairs to find already in my room members of the 
Freedmen's Committee, who had that matter in charge ; 
and, when that steamer arrived at Central Wharf the 
next Sunday afternoon, why, the roadway on Cen- 
tral Wharf was blocked with carriages of people com- 
peting with each other who might take these outcasts 
to their homes. I could tell a thousand such stories. 
It was all the outcrop of healthy national feeling. But 
it worked largely through the forms of church-life and 
church-organization. Literally there was not a day from 
the 15th of April, 1861, till the beginning of 1866, but 
this church, in its organisms as a church, was at work 
for the soldier and for the country. And any man who 
wants to learn what are in America the relations of 
Church and State could not learn it better than by 
studying the work of our churches in the war. 



46 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

A good illustration in what is pure home-life, such 
as surrounds us every day, has been in the growth 
and in the work of the Christian Unity Society, so 
long connected with the church, and still meeting in 
the chapel owned by this congregation. In the winter 
of 1857 Mr - Charles J. Bishop and Miss Esther Maria 
Simonds of this church, observing two little boys in 
the Sunday school ill at ease, because they really 
needed other training than what was given to the 
children of the parish, — in fact, could not read well, — 
organized a separate school for the children of the 
neighborhood, whose parents could not or would not 
come to church. The school throve. Its teachers 
came into personal intercourse with the children and 
their parents. People enough were found who would 
gladly join in worship and in mutual help, if they 
could do so with simple arrangements and at small 
expense. The Christian Unity met the purposes of 
such people. It was an association of mutual help 
of whatever kind. From its meetings Sunday even- 
ing, in our old vestry, it grew to need larger quarters. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 47 

Eventually its friends, mostly in this church, built for 
it the chapel in Gloucester Place and Harrison Ave- 
nue. From its work there has been developed a 
good deal of the best work now done in the State. 
The public drawing-schools are the result of its great 
drawing-schools. The Evening High School of Bos- 
ton grew from its great evening classes in Latin, 
French, German, and the mathematics. Some of us 
think that the Boston Christian Union, in its ad- 
mirable development of late years, took its start from 
the impulse given there. The system, now general, 
of co-operative life-insurance by the members of so- 
cieties, was tried, perfected, and brought into working- 
order there, and the proper legislation secured for its 
continuance. In twenty years of our history there is 
no series of efforts of which we might be more proud. 

Meanwhile, in the year i860, the most enterprising 
members of our number felt sure that we needed a 
larger and better church-edifice. I know I dreaded the 
change. I had always said I would never be the minister 
of a congregation which was building a church. That is 



48 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

one of a great many foolish things which I have said 
and had to unsay. The congregation determined to 
build, and was ready to build when the war struck the 
country. But we had put our hand to the plough. 
Woe to him that turns back! On the 8th of June, 
in the midst of war and rumors of war, we laid the 
corner-stone. 

" Unless the Lord shall build the house, 
They build in vain who lay the stone : 
O Father ! build our humble pile, 

And make thy children's work thine own." 

With promptness unparalleled this beautiful church 
was finished in seven months, and dedicated on the 
evening of Jan. 8, 1862. For the first time we used 
a responsive service in the church ; and, after reading 
the selections which we read together this afternoon, 
the congregation who had built it, with united voices 
dedicated it, — 

To the glory of God our Father, 

To the gospel and memory of his Son, 

To the communion and fellowship of his Spirit. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 49 

The prayer of dedication was offered by Dr. Lothrop. 
The chairman of the building committee made an 
address, and I preached a sermon. We sang again 
the hymns written for the first dedication. 

But I need say nothing of our life and habit of to-day. 
It is the history of another generation, not of this, of 
which I have tried to speak. For the future, let us pray 
for such unbroken harmony as we have always known, 
that the traditions of the fathers may have their full 
weight with the children, and that children and children's 
children, like the generation on the stage to-day, may 
loyally and manfully take the work of the church on their 
own shoulders, and never sink to throw it upon their min- 
ister's. I can tell such anecdotes as I have told of the 
exterior history of the church ; but who can speak rightly 
of its inner life ? If it is true of a Christian man, how- 
ever simple and godly, that he has no religion " to speak 
of," how much more will this be true of a Christian 
church ? The moment it professes its Christianity, let 
it remember to confess its shortcomings. Confession 



50 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

more than profession brings it close to God. No 
methods, no organizations, are going to help us, unless 
the living Spirit of the living God inspire us. For this 
is not a club, a society, or corporation for mutual im- 
provement only : it is a Church ; that is to say, it is 
a union of men and women, youths, maidens, and little 
children, a union of saints and sinners, a union of wise 
and foolish, who want to come nearer to God, and 
better to serve him. So their prayers be earnest, so 
their humility be true, so they use what faith they have, 
if they seek God, surely they will find him. So they 
seek him, so they find him, all else will follow, — their 
charities will be well enough organized, their welcome 
will be more and more cordial, their finances will adjust 
themselves in response to faithful effort, their devices 
of whatever kind to tone up the community in which 
they live will meet God's blessing and reward. But 
if they hope or try to " run the church," as the carnal 
say, as a man might "run a lyceum" or a factory, if 
they have any mere human plans for human success, 
it is certain that they are all destined to absolute failure. 



HISTORICAL DISCOURSE. 5* 

This church has prospered from its very infancy, be- 
cause it has always been more than any of these things 
that I have named. It has been more than a school 
of instruction. It has been more than a lyceum for 
oratory. It has been more than a club for society. It 
has been more than an association for charity. First, 
second, and last, it has been a church where men and 
women sought to come nearer God by such strug- 
gles, such mutual help, such prayers and meditations, 
such symbols and offices, as from hour to hour God 
opened before them. " Nearer, my God, to thee." But 
they have not done this selfishly. They have tried to 
serve the brother whom they saw while they tried to 
worship the God whom they did not see. With the 
love with which they love God they have tried to love 
their brethren also. 

This congregation is larger at this moment than it 
ever was. Its charities are more efficient. Its Sunday 
school teaches more classes of learners. Its contribu- 
tions are larger. And never has it conceived a service 
more cordial than to-day's. But these may be only 



52 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



things ; for these belong to the outside. Our real pros- 
perity, our life and strength, are in our faith, our hope, 
and our love. God grant us, with each day, that we 
come nearer to him ! God grant that the gospel of glad 
tidings may speak to us each day more simply ! God 
grant, that, in the inspiration of our daily lives, we may 
know what the Holy Spirit is ! Thus may we learn to 
bear every man his brother's burdens, and so fulfil the 
whole law of Christ. On such nearness to God does 
the prosperity of our church depend for the next half- 
century and for centuries and centuries to come. God 
grant it in his infinite love ! 

" May He be with us as He was with our fathers ! " 



The corner-stone of the first Meeting House was laid on the 
morning of Tuesday, Aug. 7, 1827, in presence of a large number 
of persons. Mr. Charles Sprague read the inscription on the silver 
plate, which, with various publications of the day, was placed in a 
leaden box to be deposited under the corner-stone. Rev. Samuel 
Barrett led the assembly in fervent prayer. The corner-stone 
was then laid. After that ceremony, Rev. John Pierpont delivered 
an eloquent address. 

The plate under the stone bears the following inscription : — 



INSCRIPTION. 



" THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD. 



South Congregational Society. 

Laid on the 7th day of August, A.D. 182/. 



BUILDING COMMITTEE. 

Ephraim Marsh. Jos i ah F. Flagg. 

Thomas Brewer. Henry H. Fuller. 

Walter Cornell. Henry Hatch. 

Joseph d. emery. Thomas Hunting. 

Benjamin Stevens. 



TREASURER. SECRETARY. 

Elisha Copeland, Jr. I Robert T. Paine. 



ARCHITECT. 

Thomas W. Sumner. 



JOHN QUINCY ADAMS, President of the United States. 



LEVI LINCOLN, Governor of Massachusetts. 



JO SI AH QUINCY, Mayor of Boston. 



54 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

On the afternoon of Feb. 3, 1878, the church was filled 
in every part by an assembly of the present parish and of 
those who had formerly been connected with it. The church 
was richly decorated with flowers, the gifts of members of 
the congregation, and other friends. 

The service began at three o'clock, Rev. S. W. Bush 
offering prayer. 

The minister and congregation read the selections from 
Scripture alternately ; being nearly the same selections as those 
used in the dedication of this Church. 

A large choir, under the direction of Mr. B. J. Lang, the 
chorister of the church, then sung the chorus, the solo, and 
semi-chorus which introduces Mendelssohn's Hymn of Praise ; 
and the service then proceeded in prayer, in which Rev. 
William Pitt Tilden led the congregation. The service was 
continued in the successive parts of the Hymn of Praise, 
and in addresses, historical and congratulatory, by Rev. Messrs. 
Hale, S. K. Lothrop, J. F. W. Ware, and J. H. Morison. 

It is impossible to give in words an adequate account of 
the grandeur of the performance of that inspired music, so 
perfectly adapted to express the gratitude and gladness of 
the occasion. 



LETTER FROM DR. HUNTINGTON. 55 



On Monday evening, Feb. 4, a large party of the present 
and past members of the congregation met in the vestry for 
mutual congratulation. 

Rev. Mr. Motte, at the last moment, found himself unable to 
attend, but sent the cordial expression of his warm congratu- 
lation and sympathy. Mr. Hale read the following letter from 
Dr. Huntington : — 

Syracuse, Jan. 23, 1878. 
My dear Brother, — Returning from a long journey, I am too 
late in answering your very kind note of the 10th. The dear old 
"South Congregational"! — not so old as I am, and not much 
older than you are, and likely to live longer than either of us. We 
have both done what we could, in our several ways, to add to its 
life. May God accept whatever in our service was right, and 
pardon the rest ! There must be a few in the parish who would 
recognize me if I could stand up before them at the semi-centen- 
nial ; and they would say, " His head has grown white, however it 
may be with his theology." I wish you would thank them for 
taking the advice I gave them when I went away, and calling you 
to follow me. That was the last of a long and thick succession of 
most gracious and judicious compliances with my wishes. Their 
building went to Rome; and their minister went — whither he 
thought God called him ; but their prosperity seems never to have 



56 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

forsaken them. How many honored and dear names I could men- 
tion of those who were with me from the beginning ! And how 
much could be said of them ! Give my love to all the children 
and kindred of all those who have fallen asleep. 

After my absence, I find my duties and engagements for a 
month will not allow me to go to Boston. I beg you to send me 
a published account of your doings and sayings, and to believe me 
sincerely and faithfully, 

Your friend, . 

F. D. HUNTINGTON. 

At a meeting of the South Friendly Society, on its anni- 
versary, March 13, the following letter was received from Dr. 
Huntington : — 

Syracuse, March 11, 1878. 
My dear Mrs. Andrews, — What a nice thing it is to grow 
old, when the mere lapse of time sets free all the fountains of 
friendliness and good will ! Why should we be afraid of old age 
when it mellows the heart, and re-unites brothers who had been 
parted by the parting of their ways, and even commissions a ten- 
der and loving shepherdess to go after and win back the fugitive 
shepherd who once worked himself out of the arms of the kindest 
and most patient of flocks, and ran away across Cambridge 



LETTER FROM DR. HUNTINGTON. $7 

Bridge — and farther too! It will make you willing by and by, 
when the time comes, to be fifty years old yourself. 

I have been rummaging both my brains and my repositories of 
old papers to find something of a little value to send you. Both are 
sadly unequal to the demand: so I go to another quarter, another 
treasure-house ; and there, in my heart, I find offerings and memo- 
rials, words and keepsakes, enough. They are immaterial and 
impalpable; they would not make even a "pound package;" no 
auctioneer could get a bid for them : but they are of great worth 
to the owner. No arithmetic could count them. I have been sit- 
ting here this evening, in my study, pulling them out, and looking 
at them, and turning them over, and congratulating myself on my 
antiquarian wealth. Among them I see names written, clear, and 
not faded much ; names of noble and faithful women not a few, 
of true and honorable men, — Reed, Nazro, Ellis, and Everett, 
Brigham, Alger, Boyd, and Williams, Carter, Darling, Marsh, 
Clarke, and Howard, Kidder, Tinkham, Allen, Coleman, Brooks, 
Hubbard, Eustis, Motte, Hooper, Tyler, Dutton, Torrey, Bishop, 
Hatch, Hoffman, Sullivan, Hale, Weld, Child, Palfrey, Newell, 
Gay, Wood, Seaver, Skinner, Eliot, But I am afraid to commit 
myself to a complete catalogue, lest some one or two as precious 
as any should be left out. For any thing that I have done in this 
world I owe a great deal to them all. Out of that well-kept and 
secret magazine I send you all cordial salutations and unchanged 
love. 



5§ SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Somehow it must have escaped observation, I am sure, that Mrs. 
Huntington was in the successions of presidents, holding the office 
a little while, perhaps a year, — just before the election of Mrs. 
Reed. Matters had got into a tangle (they never do so now, be- 
cause Mr. Hale never lets you be naughty) ; and, to tide the boat 
over the rapids, my wife, as a new-comer and of no party, — a 
young bride, suffering so much from diffidence in the presence of 
her elders, that she will never forget it, — was placed at the helm. 
She wishes me to give her affectionate remembrance to all who 
remember her. 

The " South Friendly " grew friendlier and friendlier, but was, I 
think, never quite so friendly as when she set up a kitchen in the 
Old South Congregational, intermixing biscuits with patch-work, 
tea and coffee with knitting-needles, and the rattle of cups 
and saucers with the music of many tongues. Her warm drinks 
dissolved all jealousies with the sugar, and sweetened them at the 
same time. 

In his sermon at the anniversary, your minister spoke of the 
great services of the parish in the war. I enclose, as a slight curi- 
osity, two manuscripts picked up by a brave soldier, a graduate of 
Harvard College, where they had been dropped by some fleeing 
parsons near Beaufort, brought home to us, illustrating the econ- 
omy, if not the eloquence, of the Southern pulpit in those sad 
times. 



LETTER FROM DR. HUNTINGTON. 59 

As probably some of the children or grand-children of the Old 
Lady may wonder how this man looks who once used to drop in to 
spend an evening with her, I venture to enclose a copy of his phiz, 
and am, my dear friend, trusting you will always be in the future as 
in the past, "friendly" to the friendless, 

With love and obedience yours, 

F. D. HUNTINGTON. 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 

[This discourse was read by Mr. Hale Feb. 10, 1878.] 



" He led them forth by the right way." — Ps. cvii. 7. 

JT is difficult for one generation to judge fairly the 
sermons of another ; for a living sermon, from 
the very conditions of its existence, is addressed, first 
of all, to the needs of the moment when it speaks. 
It does not speak to the past ; it does not speak to 
the future ; it speaks now. It has happened, indeed, 
that some great preachers have themselves so changed 
the world to which they spoke, that no amount of dig- 
ging or delving afterwards can fully reconstruct, even 
for history, the set order of stratifications which such 
men disturbed. Such preachers were Paul, were Ber- 
nard in France, Luther in Germany, Davidis in Hun- 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 6 1 

gary, the Wesleys and Whitefield in England, and 
Channing in New England ; and it is easier for the 
boy and girl who hear me to imagine Washington 
Street a quiet country road between thirty or forty 
comfortable houses standing in their gardens, with 
rows of long, deep sheds, in which teamsters from 
the hill-country let their horses rest, with thousands 
upon thousands of peaceful pigeons feasting on the 
lavish corn left in the roadway for their gleaning, — 
it is far easier to reproduce this picture as an idyl of 
fifty or sixty years ago than it is to reproduce the 
moral, the social, and the religious condition of the 
same Boston as Holley preached to it, and Channing 
and Ware in those same years. There has been a 
complete revolution of most men's ideas of religion, — 
of what it is, and what it is for ; or, if you please, 
an enlargement of those ideas, so wide, and extending 
so far, that the average religious idea of that time is 
related to it only as a mustard-seed is related to the 
tree which grows from it, or as a spark in tinder is 
related to the beacon-fire which it kindles, and to the 



62 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

other beacons which are lighted up wherever that fire 
is seen, and to the joy which is given to a whole land 
by all their tidings of victory, 

There was certainly good preaching in this region 
in the years before the Revolution, and while the Revo- 
lution lasted. The sermons of Mayhew at the West 
Church have the right stuff in them, as certainly he 
had. There is a ballad of the time, which speaks of 
Cooper, the minister of Brattle Street, as — 

" Silver-tongued Sam, 
Who gently glides 
Between both sides, 
And so avoids the jam." 

But this must have had a Tory origin. In Cooper s 
public record he appears the counsellor of Adams, 
Franklin, and other public men ; and his extended 
correspondence in Europe was of the first value for 
the popular cause. His sermon in 1780, on the adop- 
tion of the Constitution of Massachusetts, was published 
in several languages in Europe, and is very well worth 
study to-day. But, after the death of the men of that 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 63 

school, I think preaching declined in our pulpit. I 
think that the activity of the country and its best 
life went into the new channels, especially into the 
new political life and the new ocean commerce all 
over the world. So it happened that the men of 
action got ahead of the preachers in their theology. 
To say, as the written constitutions began to say, 
that the State could be trusted to the verdict of the 
majority was to deny that all men were of nature 
incapable of good, and that only a miserable handful 
of the elect are saved by grace. To approach to uni- 
versal suffrage was to deny general total depravity. 
Again : to intrust to the people the choice of political 
rulers was to say that they might be trusted in the 
choice of ecclesiastical rulers. The people who said 
that took out the life from all systems of apostolic 
succession of appointment of bishops from Canterbury 
or from Rome. It was thus that it happened, that, 
in fifty years after the battle of Lexington, the religion 
of this land had passed wholly beyond the control of 
the old theological systems, although many of their 



64 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

advocates had not wit enough to know it. It followed, 
that, wherever in New England the pulpit droned 
along in weary repetition of forsaken dogma, its utter- 
ances were more drowsy and more. They were like 
the hundred thousandth print struck from a worn-out 
copperplate, — the whites were not white, and the blacks 
were not black, and the middle tints were muddy. I 
doubt if any man in New England this day remem- 
bers any sermon published in New England, on a 
distinctively religious subject, between 1775 and the 
preaching of the younger Buckminster. 1 

For us in Boston all this was changed with his 
sermons. Joseph Stevens Buckminster preached in 
Brattle-street Church from 1805 to 18 12. Old people 
will still tell you of the wholly new delight with which 
people " went to meeting " to hear any thing that 
was interesting. They did not yet know that this 
was a new theology. But it was. For the theology 
and the religion, which, from the pulpit, directed 

1 I think that the sermons of Dwight and Emmons hardly attracted attention 
outside their own congregations before 1805. 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 65 

men's daily lives, which turned from the inscrutable 
counsels of God to direct the eternal duties of man, 
were for New England a wholly new theology and 
a wholly new religion. Men were no longer invited 
to pry into the seventh heaven ; but they saw, that, 
in very truth, God had made his tabernacle with men. 
You would search Buckminster's sermons vainly for 
any formal foundations of what people call a theologi- 
cal system. But in this simple taking for granted 
that all men are children of God, and that God is 
here, and not there, is that great liberal theological 
system which is in all the American political consti- 
tutions. People did not know it was a new theology ; 
but they knew they liked to hear the man preach 
who proclaimed it. They crowded Brattle - street 
Church while he was its minister ; and for that time 
it is fair to say he was the leader of the Boston 
pulpit. 

Horace Holley, the minister of Hollis-street Church, 
of whom I spoke here last Sunday, was called there 
from Greenfield Hill, Conn., because the Hollis-street 



66 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

people supposed he was a man of the same type. 
So far as eloquence and courage went, and a living 
confidence in the divinity of human nature and the 
present interest of God in the affairs of man, they 
judged rightly. Holley would never print his ser- 
mons ; and, with the exception of a funeral discourse 
preached in Kentucky, I think none of them have 
ever been published. But the affection of some friend 
has preserved for us in manuscript a few of them, 
which Hollis-street Church keeps among its treasures. 
Through their kindness I have the volume here ; and 
I will read to you a passage now. 

It is from a curious sermon, based on his church- 
record of the year. After speaking of the baptisms 
of the year, its communion-services, its marriages, its 
funerals, he says this of the gathering for worship: — 

" More than a hundred times have you been assembled, during 
the last year, in the house of God, in the worship of his name. 
More than a hundred separate discourses have claimed your at- 
tention, and reminded you of your continually diversified duties 
toward your fellow-creatures, yourselves, and your Maker. The 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 67 

vices of mankind have been held up to warn you : their virtues have 
been presented to allure you. The horrors of the former, and the 
glories of the latter, have been equally pressed upon your minds. 
You have been called upon to study the state of your hearts, 
your predominant affections, your motives to action, your peculiar 
temptations and dangers, your means of escape and improvement, 
and immense responsibility which your privileges beget. You 
have had no smooth and playful pictures to deceive you. The 
course of truth and duty has been shown to be laborious and 
rugged : it has been contemplated as demanding your best pow- 
ers and your most solicitous exertions. You have not been 
perplexed with absurd and mystical dogmas ; nor have your 
hopes been animated with any thing short of actual godliness, 
— godliness in heart, in head, and in life. The forms of religion 
have been urged, but not as the end ; while they have been strictly 
maintained as the means. Your affections and your understand- 
ings have been equally and earnestly asked for God and mankind. 
The morning of sabbath after sabbath has dawned upon you, 
and the evening closed in the milder beams of mercy. Look 
afar to the new settlements of the West; look still beyond to 
the roving inhabitants of the wilderness ; cross the ocean to 
the Pagans of the Eastern world ; travel through the savage 
climes of Asia and Africa, and return to your present worship : 
and then ask if you are not in the very borders of paradise, the 



68 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



skirts of heaven, surrounded with blessings and enjoyments 
known only to few, and that demand corresponding excellence. 
Can you plead that you do not know your duty ? that you have 
not been taught the religion of Christ and his Father ? that you 
have not been warned and invited to possess the promised land ? 
The services of surrounding pastors have been offered you, and 
humbler efforts have been stationed among you. Let not their 
united testimony hereafter be raised against you ! 

" Such, my brethren, are the various considerations which 
the records of our church for the past year offer to our minds. 
Each one of us will naturally ask of his own conscience, £ Have 
I borne fruit to my Almighty Possessor and Protector ? When 
he has visited me in the calls of his providence, have I presented 
to him barren branches, deceitful leaves, or blossoms filled with 
promise, but empty of fruit ; or have I been active and progres- 
sive in religion ? ' Whatever may be the result of our respective 
internal examination (which let none but God know), this 
is, at least, a favor common to us all, — that we are spared to 
enter upon a new year, and make further proof of the bounty 
of Heaven. 

" In looking forward to the subjects presented in our pros- 
pect, you will allow me, my hearers, to be plain and direct. 
Time will not admit of circumlocution, nor will fidelity justify 
disguised advice. If ever truth is to be heard, it is to be heard 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 69 

from the pulpit ; if ever reproof may be administered, it may 
be administered from the pulpit ; if ever neglect and error may 
be plainly shown without offence, it should be from the pulpit. 
One of the prime blessings of the pulpit is, that it may, with 
acknowledged impunity, castigate vice, and insist upon virtue. 
The censor who occupies it may, and often does, receive [re- 
quire ?] as much reproof and salutary correction as those by whom 
he is employed and commissioned. With these remarks I pro- 
ceed to contemplate our duties for the coming year, on the very 
topics that have engaged our retrospection." 

Then he passes to consider the duties which might 
be enjoined from proper study of the purport of bap- 
tism, of the communion, of death, of marriage, and 
of public worship. 

I think Dr. Holley would never have been called 
to Boston unless he had been recognized already as a 
bold free-thinker. Yet Dr. Eckley of the Old South 
Church preached the sermon at his installation in 1809. 
I believe Dr. Joshua Huntington, the next minister 
of that church, refused to be present at Dr. Pierpont's 
ordination as Holley's successor in 18 19. In those ten 
years men were trying to draw the lines — which, in 



70 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

truth, can never really be drawn — between the more 
and less latitudinarian churches. I suppose that what 
people call the Unitarian controversy may be said to 
have begun in this region in the year 1805, with the 
appointment of Dr. Henry Ware of Hingham to a 
theological professorship in Harvard College. When 
his son, Henry Ware, jun,, the father of our friend 
who spoke to us last Sunday, was ordained as minis- 
ter of the Second Church, the name " Unitarian " 
was fairly established in controversy ; and neither of 
the Wares hesitated to accept that name. Henry 
Ware, jun., was active in the formation of the Unitarian 
Association ; and when our church was founded, Dr, 
Channing being unable to preach, Mr. Ware was most 
naturally called upon to take his place. I can show 
you here the manuscript of the sermon he preached 
that day, which his son kindly gave to us to pre- 
serve when he repeated it in the old church sixteen 
years ago. It is an argument for the importance of 
public worship. It is from the text, " Sanctify us 
through thy truth." I should have said that they 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 7 1 

would have printed it as a tract at that time, but 
probably he thought he should publish it more exten- 
sively from the pulpit. In fact, as the indorsements 
show, he often preached it on similar occasions. Let 
me read to you the concluding appeal from this ser- 
mon : — 

" Yet this institution, valuable as it is, is far from answering 
all the purposes for which it is designed. It is slighted, neglected, 
abused. It were vain to say any thing now to those who neglect 
it, and will not enter the churches which are erected ; though 
it is altogether inexplicable how they can account themselves 
innocent in that respect, or fancy that they have any moral right 
to refuse their attendance. 

" If it were only a human institution, no man who regards it 
as his duty to promote in every possible way the welfare of his 
soul would have any right to neglect it. But it is not a human 
institution: it is an appointment of God the Creator. Public 
worship is just as much his law as honor and industry; and a 
man has no more right to refuse a part in it than he has a 
right to refuse to do justly and deal fairly. The looseness with 
which men think and speak on this subject is amazing. Even 
many persons who think themselves religiously devoted to God 
yet seem to fancy that this thing is left entirely at their option, 



72 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

to be done or not done as expediency or convenience may dic- 
tate : whereas it rests on the same immovable obligation with 
every other duty of society. 

"But there are prevalent errors in those who attend public 
worship which greatly impede its good effects. Some regard 
it as a measure of expediency, — it is an institution which is to 
be continued, if properly conducted, for it has a very good 
influence on society in general : therefore they give it the sanc- 
tion of their example. 

" But what advantage can you derive from such attendance ? 
There is no benefit, there can be no blessing, in going up to 
God's house for expediency's sake. 

" With others it seems a matter of habit : they would not 
know what else to do with themselves. But they take no reli- 
gious interest in it, and they never think of it as a religious 
action. But what good can it do you to bring your bodies, while 
your souls are roving where they please ? What wonder that 
they are no more benefited than they who are absent in body 
as well as in mind ? 

" Others go to the church just as they go to the theatre or to 
the opera, — for the sake of the enjoyment of the oratory and the 
music ; and of course it follows that they are just as much edi- 
fied as they would have been at theatre and opera, and are just 
as acceptable to God. For there is no blasphemy on the stage 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 73 

or in the streets more disgusting or injurious than that which 
is uttered by those who talk about the service in God's house 
in the same tone of levity and criticism with which they speak 
of the concert and the play. 

" To others, again, public worship is useless, because they 
bring to it a dissatisfied or a prejudiced state of mind. They 
cannot bear such a preacher, or such a class of doctrine : they 
prepare themselves to dispute every thing that is said, and to 
resist every appeal that is made. They thus engage in criticis- 
ing or contradicting the worship, instead of joining in it. No 
wonder that they are not edified. 

" In these and various other ways, how lamentable it is to 
observe that this institution is so turned from its true purpose ! 

" What is its purpose ? To adore the Almighty, to ask his 
forgiveness of sin, to supplicate his blessing, — not in outward 
form, not in elegant words, not in set speeches, but in the 
heart, with the real feelings, in spirit and in truth. And then, 
when we see the congregation, in the midst of solemn prayer, 
in every strange attitude of inattention and irreverence, — some 
sleeping, and some, as we learn by their conversation afterward, 
only listening that they may praise or blame, — is this the de- 
votion of true worship ? 

" When, under the old dispensation, some careless persons 
offered blind and lame beasts in sacrifice, the indignant priest 



74 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

broke out in angry rebuke : Offer it now to thy governor, and 
see if he will accept it. And so we may say now, ' Would such 
demeanor be tolerated in any formal offering of respect to any 
distinguished man ? ' 

" Who are these that come together in the temples of the 
land ? They are children coming to speak to their Father ; 
sinners, to confess their iniquities, and ask forgiveness ; crea- 
tures of the dust to supplicate the most high God, in want of 
every thing from him, for they have nought of themselves. 
One would think that no sentiments but those of dread, rever- 
ence, abasement, and grateful love, would find place at such an 
hour ; that their heart would swell with those emotions, and 
have room for none other ; or that, if any other should intrude 
for a moment, it would be rejected with sudden horror and 
shame. 

" But, if we may judge of men by appearances, is it so ? 

" How else is it that men have gone up and confessed their 
sins to God twice on every sabbath for many years, and not re- 
pented, or forsaken them yet ? 

" And how else that all the holy breath of prayer which has 
been so solemnly sent up to heaven has left so many just as far 
from piety as they were years ago ? 

" How is it that those who have learned of Jesus Christ how 
near and gracious their Father is, how full of compassion, how 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 7$ 

ready to bless, and how great and essential the need of his 
blessing, who have been invited so tenderly, entreated so earnest- 
ly, and, through this unmerited kindness of God, look with hope 
to another world, — how is it that they can be so thoughtlessly 
ungrateful as to cast this unworthy contempt on his worship, 
and, while they rejoice in the hope of an everlasting sabbath 
with him in heaven, yet do not devote to him their hearts for 
one sabbath on earth ? 

" But not such be the worship within these walls. I trust, 
brethren, that not such will be your attendance here. Remem- 
ber it is a house of prayer, a rich storehouse of blessings, as 
I have feebly attempted to show. Use it as such, I beseech 
you. Understand its full purpose. Be persuaded of its great 
value. Lend yourselves to it with all your souls. Let your 
first care be to worship in spirit and in truth. Let contempla- 
tion and self-examination be secondary objects. Let your first, 
and your second, and your third object be to worship : if not, the 
house which now smiles as if to be a blessing may prove your 
curse. If it be not a house of prayer, it will prove a house of 
death. But no, brethren ; God grant you — and we trust you 
shall find — a blessing here; even a house of God, a gate of 
heaven. May it be to you as a house of public worship is 
designed to be." 



76 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

When Mr. Motte was installed, Dr. Charming 
preached a sermon from the text, — 

" God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of 
power, and of love, and of a sound mind." It is an 
answer to the question, — 

"Why was Christianity given?" and the answer 
is, — 

" Christ lived, taught, died, and rose again, to exert 
a purifying and ennobling influence over the human 
character ; to make us victorious over sin, over our- 
selves, over peril and pain ; to join us to God by filial 
love, and, above all, by likeness of nature, by partici- 
pation of his spirit." 

This sermon, also, belongs in the theological dis- 
cussions of the day. It seems to me to illustrate 
admirably Dr. Channing's power. Let me close these 
reminiscences by reading to you some passages. 

" There are those, who, instead of placing the glory of Chris- 
tianity in the pure and powerful action which it gives to the 
human mind, seem to think that it is rather designed to substi- 
tute the activity of another for our own. They imagine the 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 77 

benefit of the religion to be, that it enlists on our side an 
Almighty Being who does every thing for us. To disparage 
human agency seems to them the essence of piety. They 
think Christ's glory to consist, not in quickening free agents to 
act powerfully on themselves, but in changing them by an irre- 
sistible energy. They place a Christian's happiness, not so 
much in powers and affections unfolded in his own breast as 
in a foreign care extended over him, in a foreign wisdom which 
takes the place of his own intelligence. Now, the great pur- 
pose of Christianity is, not to procure or offer to the mind 
a friend on whom it may passively lean, but to make the mind 
itself wise, strong, and efficient. Its end is, not that wisdom 
and strength as subsisting in another should do every thing 
for us, but that these attributes should grow perpetually in 
our own souls. According to Christianity, we are not carried 
forward as a weight by a foreign agency; but God, by means 
suited to our moral nature, quickens and strengthens us to 
walk ourselves. The great design of Christianity is to build 
up in our own souls a power to withstand, to endure, to 
triumph. Inward vigor is its aim. That we should do most for 
ourselves and most for others, this is the glory it confers, and 
in this its happiness is found. 

" I pass to another illustration of the insensibility of men to 
the great doctrine that the happiness and glory of Christianity 



78 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

consist in the healthy and lofty frame to which it raises the 
mind : I refer to the propensity of multitudes to make a wide 
separation between religion, or Christian virtue, and its rewards. 
That the chief reward lies in the very spirit of religion, they do 
not dream. They think of being Christians for the sake of 
something beyond the Christian character, and something more 
precious. They think that Christ has a greater good to give 
than a strong and generous love towards God and mankind, 
and would almost turn from him with scorn, if they thought him 
only a benefactor to the mind. It is this low view which dwarfs 
the piety of thousands. Multitudes are serving God for wages 
distinct from the service ; and hence superstition, slavishness, 
and formality are substituted for inward energy and spiritual 
worship. 

" I fear I have been guilty of repetition. But I feel the 
greatness of the truth which I declare, and I desire to make it 
plain : men need to be taught it perpetually. They have always 
been inclined to look to Christ for something better, as they 
have dreamed, than the elevation of their own souls. The 
great purpose of Christianity — to unfold, and strengthen, and lift 
up the mind — has been perpetually thrown out of sight. In 
truth, this purpose has been more than overlooked : it has 
been reversed. The very religion given to exalt human nature 
has been used to make it abject. . . . 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 79 

" My hearers, I close by exhorting you to remember this 
great purpose of our religion. Receive Christianity as given to 
raise you in the scale of spiritual being. Expect from it no 
good, any further than it gives strength and worth to your char- 
acters. Think not, as some seem to think, that Christ has a 
higher gift than purity to bestow, — even pardon to the sinner. 
He does bring pardon. But once separate the idea of pardon 
from purity ; once imagine that forgiveness is possible to him 
who does not forsake sin ; once make it an exemption from 
outward punishment, and not the admission of the reformed 
mind to communion and favor with God, — and the doctrine of 
pardon becomes your peril ; and a system so teaching it is 
fraught with evil. Expect no good from Christ, except as you 
are exalted by his character and teaching. Expect no good from 
his cross, unless a power comes from it strengthening you to bear 
his cross, to drink his cup with his own unconquerable love. 
This is its highest influence. Look not abroad for the blessings 
of Christ : his reign and chief blessings are within you. The 
human soul is his kingdom : there he gains his victories, there 
rears his temples, there lavishes his treasures. His noblest 
monument is a mind redeemed from iniquity, brought back and 
devoted to God, forming itself after the perfection of the Sa- 
viour, — great through its power to suffer for truth, lovely 
through the meek and gentle virtues. No other monument does 



So SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Christ desire ; for this will endure and increase in splendor 
when earthly thrones shall have fallen, and even when the pres- 
ent order of the outward universe shall have accomplished its 
work, and shall have passed away." 

After fifty years, these sermons of Channing's stand 
out among the things which do not die. They fulfil 
my definition of a sermon, — that it meets the present 
need. But, in that case, the need was a universal 
need ; and they meet that need to this hour. Read 
four or five of those sermons, especially those pre- 
pared, like this from which I have quoted, for great 
occasions of controversy, and you understand why all 
parties have recognized Channing as the Liberal 
leader. Read his biography ; read of his communion 
with God in his private life, and his struggle and 
prayer that he might walk with God more closely, — 
and you learn where his power came from. I think I 
do no injustice to Buckminster and Holley, and the 
other prophets of the dawn, when I say that in their 
sermons was a new theology, but that people did not 
know it. Now, in Channing's sermons was a new 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 8 1 

theology, and people did know it. Those earlier 
preachers knew very well what they did not believe, 
and they said it bravely ; but Channing knew what 
he did believe, and he said that too. One fairly shud- 
ders, in reading his sermon at Baltimore or at the 
New-York Dedication, to think that it was necessary 
to crowd into an hour the advanced thought of a 
century ; to condense into the modes of a sermon the 
discussions as to God and Christ, and man and duty, 
and heaven and hell, which make the whole staple of 
theology. It is hard to imagine the amazement, or 
the numb rage, of an unfriendly critic who should 
have heard one of these great discourses, returning 
home, after the day, to find that every one of the long 
gallery of his idols had, in its turn, been insulted or 
thrown over as the calm prophet passed along. 

And now I am asked what has been the effect on 
Boston of the advance which was made when such 
men spoke, — one wave of which advance was the 
formation of this congregation. I say again, it was a 
peaceful revolution, — the outgrowth, if you please, of 



82 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

the political revolution of a hundred years before, — but 
a revolution in which were laid again the very foun- 
dations of the structures of our daily life. It is a 
great thing for any people to have their clergy lead 
in religious reform, — lead a willing people rather than 
follow an indignant people. And every thing is dif- 
ferent in Boston because these men, laymen and 
clergy, led so bravely. Education is different; science 
is different ; the morals of business are different ; the 
customs of social life are different ; ball-room, picture- 
gallery, bookstore, opera, theatre, and college are dif- 
ferent ; the preaching of every pulpit is different, and 
the prayer of every funeral. With every few years 
I observe a quiver in the dying frame of an old Ortho- 
doxy, as there is some effort made to reconvert us 
to an abandoned theology. Orthodoxy is always an 
importation here. The Orthodox divines come to us 
from Connecticut, or New Jersey, or the South-West : 
we cannot breed the article. And so some distin- 
guished preacher comes from afar to tell us the error 
of our ways. Alas ! the atmosphere is too bracing. 



THE SERMONS OF OUR FATHERS. 83 

The end is always the same ; and in the end we teach 
him the error of his. Saul is among the prophets ! All 
such apostles leave us ; or stay with us, lights of the 
freer gospel. It is more decorous, I suppose, not to 
name living men ; but I think it is not needful. Nor 
do I see that the Roman-Catholic invasion affects the 
general law. The Protestant population of Boston is 
about the same, now that three-fifths of this city is 
Irish in blood, as it was fifty years ago. I believe 
that the Protestant churches are fuller than they were 
then. I believe the Orthodox pulpits preach much 
the same doctrine which the Liberal pulpits preached 
then ; and I believe the Liberal churches were never 
masters of the situation so thoroughly as now. I 
think there was never a time when the superstitions 
which are the curse of religion are so few, and when 
its life penetrated so thoroughly into every fibre and 
organ of man's being. 

Such blessings we owe to the courage of the fathers. 
Our only dangers are in the indolence of success. 
God help us to transmit such blessings to the chil- 
dren. 



HYMNS. 



HYMNS. 



WRITTEN FOR THE DEDICATION OF THE SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL 
CHURCH, CORNER OF WASHINGTON AND CASTLE STREETS, JAN. 30, 
1828. 

I. — BY CHARLES SPRAGUE. 

God of wisdom, God of might, 

Father, — dearest name of all, — 
Bow thy throne, and bless our rite : 

'Tis thy children on thee call. 
Glorious One ! look down from heaven ; 

Warm each heart, and wake each vow : 
Unto thee this house is given; 

With thy presence fill it now. 

Fill it now. On every soul 

Shed the incense of thy grace : 
While our anthem-echoes roll 

Round the consecrated place ; 



SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

While thy holy page we read; 

While the prayers thou lov'st ascend ; 
While thy cause thy servants plead, — 

Fill this house, our God, our Friend. 

Fill it now ; oh, fill it long ! 

So, when Death shall call us home, 
Still to thee in many a throng 

May our children's children come. 
Bless them, Father, long and late ; 

Blot their sins, their sorrows dry; 
Make this place to them the gate 

Leading to thy courts on high. 

Then, when time shall be no more, 

When the feuds of earth are past, 
May the tribes of every shore 

Congregate in peace at last ! 
Then to thee, thou One all- wise, 

Shall the gathered millions sing 
Till the arches of the skies 

With their hallelujahs ring. 



HYMNS. 



II. — BY JOHN PIERPONT. 

With trump, and pipe, and viol-chords, 
And song, the full assembly brings 

Its tribute to the Lord of lords, 
Its homage to the King of kings. 

To God, who, from the rocky prison 

Where death had bound him, brought his Son 

To God "these walls from earth have risen;" 
To God, " the high and lofty One." 

Creator, at whose steadfast word 

Alike the seas and seasons roll ! 
Here may thy truth in Christ our Lord 

Shine forth, and sanctify the soul. 

Here, where we hymn thy praises now, 
Father and Judge, may many a knee 

And many a spirit humbly bow 
In worship and in prayer to thee. 



SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

And when our lips no more shall move, 
Our hearts no longer beat or burn, 

Then may the children that we love 
Take up the strain, and in their turn, 

With trump and pipe and viol-strings, 
Here pay, with music's sweet accords, 

Their tribute to the King of kings, 
Their homage to the Lord of lords. 



HYMNS. 



HYMNS. 

WRITTEN FOR THE INSTALLATION OF REV. M. I. MOTTE. 
I. — BY CHARLES SPRAGUE. 

Thou lofty One, whose name is Love, 

Whose praise all nations swell, 
Bend from thy glorious throne above, 

And in this temple dwell. 

Father, 'tis thine, this sacred hour ; 

Thine let its spirit be ; 
And, while each tongue proclaims thy power, 

Oh ! turn each heart to thee. 

Bless him, thy servant : bid him here 

Thy faithful shepherd stand, 
To fold for thee, through many a year, 

This little gathering band. 



SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Bless him with grace their steps to lead, 

Where no dark tests divide ; 
To make the name of Christ their creed, 

His life and law their guide. 

Bless the?n, thy children, — them and theirs, 

In all their ways below : 
Be with them, Father, in their prayers, 

And with them in their woe. 

Be with them when they come to die, 
And make the summons blest ; 

Then, in a better world on high, 
Receive them to thy rest. 



II. — BY JOHN PIERPONT. 

" Let there be light ! " When from on high, 
O God ! that first commandment came, 

Forth leaped the Sun ; and earth and sky 
Lay in his light, and felt his flame. 



HYMNS. 



" Let there be light ! " The light of grace 
And truth, a darkling world to bless, 

Came with thy word, when on our race 
Broke forth the Sun of righteousness. 

Light of our souls, how strong it grows ! 

That Sun — how wide his beams he flings, 
As up the glorious sky he goes, 

With light and healing in his wings ! 

Give us that light ! O God ! 'tis given : 
Hope sees it open heaven's wide halls 

To those who for the truth have striven ; 
And Faith walks firmly where it falls. 

Churches no more, in cold eclipse, 
Mourn the withholding of its rays : 

It gilds their gates, and on the lips 
Of every faithful preacher plays. 

Doth not its circle clasp the brows 

Of him, who, in the strength of youth, 



SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Gives himself up in this day's vows, 
A minister of grace and truth? 

Long may it, Lord : nor let his soul 
Go through Death's gloomy vale alone ; 

But bear it on to its high goal, 

Wrapped in the light that veils thy throne. 



HYMNS. 



HYMNS. 

BY REV. F. D. HUNTINGTON. 
[FOR DIFFERENT EXCURSIONS OF THE SUNDAY SCHOOL.] 
I. 

O Thou that once on Horeb stood, 
Revealed within the burning tree ! 
To-day as well, in each green wood, 

Be seen by hearts that yearn for thee. 
Each shining leaf is bright with God, 
Each bough a prophet's " budding rod," 
Each by thy flaming sun illumed. 
Yet each, like Horeb's, unconsumed. 

O Thou whose hand poured Jordan's stream, 
Whose angel-dove hung o'er its wave 

To hallow with a heavenly gleam 

The Son whose love a world would save ! 



SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



Bring from the waters at our side 
Some whisper, gentle as their tide, 
Saying, like Christ on Galilee, — 
That holier lake, — Peace, peace, to thee ! 

We pray, O Lord who touched the mount ! 

We pray through Him who stilled the sea: 
May every outward sight a fount 

Of inward life and courage be : 
The radiant bush, the white-winged dove, 
The fire of faith, the peace of love, 
Uplift our souls, and urge them on 
To take the cross, to wear the crown. 



II. 

God's love, spread round us here, 
Infolds us like the air : 
It crowns our joy, it casts out fear, 
It prompts our song and prayer. 



HYMNS. 

God's smile of light is ours : 
It glances on the wood, 
It gilds the stream, it bathes the flowers, 
And makes the whole earth good. 

It fills our hearts and homes ; 
It cheers this festive band ; 
It shines wherever childhood roams, 
And strengthens duty's hand. 

God's care is o'er our way 
In city and in field : 
Oh ! let him be our spirits' stay, 
And faith in him our shield. 

Giver of these glad hours, 
Go thou before us still ; 
Lead back to toil and thought our powers, 
Refreshed, to do thy will. 

May this day's quickening rest 
Some holier aims impart, 
Kindling such love in every breast 
As dwelt in Christ's pure heart ! 



SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



III. 

Father, shed thy spirit here ; 

Raise our thoughts to thy bright throne; 
Scatter every doubt and fear, 

Make us every one thine own : 
From all weakness set us free, — 
Pride and. sense and vanity, 

God, who led young Joseph's way, 
Guard with innocence our days ! 

God, who heard young Samuel pray, 
Teach our lips to breathe thy praise ! 

God who lov'st the sinless heart, 

Give us Mary's better part ! 

Cast away our base desires ; 

Self and its false will dethrone ; 
Kindle faith's most sacred fires ; 

Make us brave for truth alone, — 
Followers of thy perfect Son, 
Christ, the blameless, spotless one. 



HYMNS. 



Save us from temptation's sway; 

Keep us pure as morning air; 
Wayward let us never stray; 

Heavenward may we lift our prayer, 
Trustful, tell our wants to thee, 
Thy meek children always be. 

Warn us by thy thunder voice ; 

Wake us by thy heavenly light ; 
Prompt us to the nobler choice ; 

Clear our clouded earthly sight ; 
Open these sense-covered eyes 
On the soul's deep mysteries. 

We would see thee everywhere, — 
In the sky, the sea, the flower, 

In. the daylight's dazzling glare, 
In the evening's star-lit hour ; 

All that's felt and seen and heard 

In thy gospel's glorious word. 

Gentle, patient tempers give ; 

Hearts by others' sufferings moved ; 



100 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Teach us how like Him to live, 

Who his foes and slanderers loved : 
One with him and all mankind, 
May we love's great secret find ! 

Parents, teachers, children, all, 
Bound to one immortal home, 

Never let thy pilgrims fall, 
Nor in desert darkness roam ; 

Bring us with unfaltering feet 

Where the happy spirits meet ! 

To the land of peaceful streams, 
To sweet fields of holy rest, 

Where no fading sunset-beams 
Vanish down the darkening west, 

To unchanging light above, 

Safely lead us, God of love ! 



HYMNS. 



101 



HYMNS. 

WRITTEN FOR THE INSTALLATION OF E. E. HALE. 
I. — BY A LADY OF THE CHURCH. 

Here again we are assembled 
For thy blessing, gracious Lord, 

To install once more a pastor 
Sent by thee to preach thy word. 

From thy hand may we receive him 

With united hearts in love, 
With aspiring hopes, believing 

Prayers are answered from above. 

May thy servant as a worker 
In his Master's vineyard stand, 

Fearless, earnest, faithful, ever, 
With this gathered, waiting band. 



102 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



By our prayers may he be strengthened, 

By thy Spirit ever led; 
And all hearts in Christ united 

Be with " daily manna " fed ! 

Here may many souls be gathered, 

True disciples of the Lord ; 
Hearts be filled with Jesus' spirit, 

Taught and fed by Jesus' word ! 

Father, hear us ! Father, bless us — 
Pastor, people — with thy grace ! 

Let thy Spirit rest upon us ; 
Let thy glory fill this place ! 



II. — BY NATHAN HALE, Jun. 

Great God, the noblest gift we own — 
Oh, may we grateful be ! — 

Is that our souls may seek thy throne, 
And hold commune with thee. 



HYMNS. 



Thy holy presence, ever near, 
Help us to feel and know, 

That we may find thy kingdom here, 
And walk with God below. 

Help us to find in thy great love 
Our dearest hope and guide : 

Who rests on wisdom from above 
Can need no help beside. 

Help us to love that mighty hand 
That leads us on our way : 

When perfect justice gives command, 
'Tis freedom to obey. 

Help him who holds the torch above, 
Lighted from Jesus' flame, 

To tell thy word, to show thy love, 
To magnify thy name. 

So in this temple may our hearts 

Warmed and exalted be 
To win the peace that Christ imparts. 

And give the praise to thee. 



SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



IIL — BY Mrs. HARRIET B. STOWE. 

" How beautiful/' saith he of old, 

" The steps of him that bringeth peace, 

And publisheth the sacred word 

That bids earth's weary conflicts cease ! " 

The herald of a golden age 

Brighter than fabling poets told, 

The mysteries of coming good 
Before his vision are unrolled. 

'Tis his to feel that mystic breath, 
That solemn impulse of the time, 

By which the Spirit of our Lord 
Rolls on his purposes sublime. 

'Tis his each true and rightful cause 
With dauntless purpose to embrace, 

And, when the brave and noble strive, 
Be ever foremost in the race. 



HYMNS. 



Tis his, in high, heroic zeal, 

To string and train the youthful mind, 
And bid it see in Christ our Lord 

The good and beautiful combined ; 

To rend each veil, to spurn each lie, 
By which God's loveliness is marred ; 

To break each bond and bolt and bar 
By which his holy truth is barred ; 

Yet, with a tender, patient care, 
To lead the erring and the weak, 

And, in the language of the skies, 

To bid the stammering tongue to speak. 

As Jesus, Lord and Brother, walked 
The ways by sinning mortals trod, 

The link between mankind and heaven, 
The Son of Mary and of God, — 

So in his Spirit stand thou fast; 

Walking with God, yet walk with men, 



106 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

The brother, teacher, friend, and guide 
By whom they come to God again, 

That, when with them thou stand'st at last 
Before the seat of Mary's Son, 

Thou mayst with joy repeat his word : 
" Of those thou gavest, lost I none." 



HYMNS. 



107 



HYMN. 

FOR THE LAYING THE CORNER-STONE OF THE CHURCH IN UNION- 
PARK STREET, JUNE 6, 1 86 1. 

BY EDWARD E. HALE. 

" Thou art the Christ, the Son of God ! " 

Untaught, his eager follower cries : 
Our Master blessed the inspired Word, 

And on that rock his church shall rise. 

That rock is struck by prophet hands, 

And streams of living water flow : 
Built on that rock, our house shall stand, 

Though floods descend, and tempests blow. 

Unless the Lord shall build the house, 
They build in vain who lay the stone : 

O Father ! build our humble pile, 

And make thy children's work thine own. 



SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 

Be pleased to bless us all who build; 

Build us together into one, — 
One living temple to our God, 

Christ Jesus the chief corner-stone. 



NOTES. 



NOTES. 

[A.] 

ORIGINAL MEMBERS. 

The act of incorporation was granted to the following cor- 
porators : — 

Thomas Brewer. Walter Cornell. 

Ephraim Marsh. Henry H. Fuller. 

Thomas Hunting. Robert Treat Paine. 

Benjamin Seaver. 

At the first meeting of the society, Ephraim Marsh was 
chosen moderator, and Robert Treat Paine secretary. The 
following building committee was then appointed : — 

Building Committee. 
Ephraim Marsh. Josiah F. Flagg. 

Thomas Brewer. Henry H. Fuller. 

A. G. P. Colburn. Henry Hatch. 

Walter Cornell. Thomas Hunting. 

Joseph D. Emery. Benjamin Stevens. 

Elisha Copeland, jun., was chosen treasurer, and Robert 
Treat Paine secretary, of the corporation. 



112 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



After the church was built, at a meeting held in the vestry 
of the new church, George Bond presided : Gardner Brewer 
was chosen secretary pro tern. 

The following standing committee was then appointed : — 

Charles Sprague. Thomas Brewer. 

Charles Ellis. J. F. Flagg. 

Thomas Hunting. Henry H. Fuller. 

Benjamin Stevens. Walter Cornell. 

Joseph D. Emery. 

The original subscribers for building the church, according to 
a list of June, 1827, were : — 



Names. 


No. of 
Shares. 


Amount 
Paid. 


Names. 


No. of 
Shares. 


Amount 
Paid. 


Thomas Brewer 


5 


$500 


Benjamin Guild .... 


2 


100 


George Archbald .... 


3 


300 


Charles Lowell 


1 


100 




1 


100 


W. E. Channing .... 


1 


100 


Walter Cornell (L. Tucker's 






Sarah Blake 


3 


100 


transfer) 


1 


100 


Francis Parkman .... 


3 


100 




1 


100 


Dupee & Hanson .... 


3 


100 


John C. Hubbard .... 


1 


100 


Cram & Marsh 


1 


100 




1 


100 


C. & F. Bullard .... 


1 


IQO 


S. G. Williams 


1 


100 


Bela Stoddard 


32 


350 


Richard Sullivan .... 


1 


100 


James Gouch 


1 


IOO 




1 


100 


George Savage 


1 


IOO 




1 


100 


Milton Hall ...... 


1 


IOO 




i\ 


250 


John Howe 


1 


IOO 


Caleb Stowell . ..... 


2 


100 


Solomon Towne .... 


3 


300 



NOTES. 



113 



Names. 


No. of 
Shares. 


Amount 
Paid. 


Names. 


No. of 
Shares. 


Amount 
Paid. 


Charles Heath 


2 


$200 


Hi, v^opeiand. j jun. . • • • 


2 


200 


Thomas Haviland ■ • ■ • • 


2 


200 


Charles G. Loring . 


1 


100 


Hastings & Marsh .... 


1 


100 


George Bond 


2 


200 


Ephraim IVXarsh • • • • • 


7s 


750 


JXUUC1 L \JT m OllctYV • • . • 


3 


300 


i3uuaru oc vvmetL . . • • 


2 


200 


Joseph Covering . . . • 


3 


300 


Arnold. Hayward .... 


1 


100 


John Ware 


1 


100 


Levi L. Cushing .... 


1 


100 


^V. & G. Tuckerman . 


2 


200 


Jarvis Clapp 


2 


200 


George Gay .«•... 


1 


100 


Carey & Diclcenson . ■ • . 


2 


200 


r)qvir1 T TYTa*\rr* 

XJ cl V i U. J_/. ±iLc\y\J . • . • 


■ 1 


100 


Cornell Rr FTnrlherf 

V_.UIJ.1C11 OC iiUUUCH .... 


2 


200 


James H. Foster • ■ • • 


2 


200 


Ellis Gray Loring . ■ * ■ 


1 


100 


Ariel Arl^mc 


1 


100 


"R T Paine 


2 


200 


Prince Hawes • • ■ • ■ 


1 


100 


James Bowen . « . . 


2 


200 


Joshua Child 


1 


75 


Henry Hatch • * . . 


2 


200 


James Read 


1 


100 


j . r . r lagg 


1 


100 


J. Steadman • - ■ • • • 


1 


100 


John Stevens • • • • • 


1 


100 


Thomas Hunting . • • . 


3 


300 


John Thompson ■ • • • « 


1 


100 


Samuel Salisbury . • * , 


1 


100 


Stephen Fairbanks • • • • 


1 


100 


James Hendley . ♦ . • 


2 


200 


Charles Sprague ■ . • ■ 


1 


100 


John French 


2 


200 


xxd.11 j » xxuwc • • • • • 


1 


100 


William Williams • . • . 


1 


100 


J. & B. Leeds 


1 


100 


A. W. Fuller 


1 


100 


H. M. Hayes 


1 


100 


Benjamin Thaxter . . . 


1 


100 


Robert Waterston .... 


1 


100 


G. B. Emerson 


1 


100 


Henry Burditt 


1 


100 


Wyman Harrington . . . 


1 


75 


Benjamin Seaver .... 


1 


100 


Noah Harrington .... 


1 


30 


George Morey, jun. . . . 


1 


100 


Baker & Horton .... 


2 


200 


Lemuel Shaw 


1 


100 


Benjamin Stevens .... 


1 


100 


H. H. Fuller 


1 


100 









114 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



The owners of pews, by a list of August, 1828, were : — 



Henry Haviland. 


T. M. Mavo. 


Thomas Haviland. 


W. Cornell. 


Charles Ellis. 


W. H. Howard. 


A. W. Fuller. 


J. D. Emery. 


Charles Heath. 


John Ellis, jun. 


F. Moseley. 


James H. Foster. 


George Archbald. 


George Morey. 


Wait and Flagg. 


N. Brigham (M. Cutler). 


Abel Call (deceased). 


Seth Wellington. 


Henry Hatch. 


Wins or Fay. 


R. T. Paine and D. Reed. 


C. Hindman. 


H. H. Fuller (Eph'm Marsh). 


• 

Joel Fay (L. Tucker, jun.). 


Thomas Hunting. 


T. J. Bailey. 


John French. 


Parker Lawrence. 


C. Alger and T. N. French. 


James Hendley. 


E. Sawin. 


Bullard, and W. and A. Hayward. 


Joseph Lovering. 


Thompson and Rogers. 




Tcaar (~* H i 1 H 


J. D. W. Williams. 


Elisha Horton. 


S. F. Morse. 


J. Gates. 


E. Marsh. 


J. C. Hubbard. 


E. Copeland, jun. 


J. Nazro. 


B. Stevens. 


Walter Cornell. 


Charles Sprague. 


George Savage. 



NOTES. 



us 



E. G. Loring. 
Howe and Heath. 



James Gouch. 
Ephraim Marsh. 
John Howe. 



The lessees of pews in August, 1828, were : — 



Asa Jones. 

John Stevens. 

William Austin. 

Henry Blake. 

Thomas Copeland. 

Brown and Leland (A. Copeland). 

R. J. Byram. 

Hiram Tupper. 

C. W. Leland. 

Mrs. Churchill. 

William Hancock (Babcock). 

W. N. Tyler (afterwards owner). 

Calvin Bailey. 

Whiting Hewins. 

Crafts and Saville. 

Barnes and Upham. 

George M. Gibbens. 



T. H. Cheever and Misses Bedel. 
Abraham Hewes. 

B. G. Sweetser (afterwards owner). 
Sherburn and Reed. 
Nat. Clapp. 
L. A. Lauriatt. 

Aaron Guild (afterwards owner). 

Withington and J. G. Roberts. 

Eben Vose (afterwards owner). 

F. Bowen and Miss L. Brown. 

M. & E. Brown, Woodard & Walker. 

William Marston. 

L. Bonney (afterwards owner). 

Andrew Capen, jun. 

Loring Brown. 

T. Mclntire. 

B. Callender. 



Il6 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



[B.] 

OUR ARMY AND NAVY LIST. 



Joseph Andrews 
William Henry Alline 

Appleton 

George E. Bates 



Batchelder 



James R. Bigelow 
Horace W. Bailey 
Thomas J. Bailey 
Moses E. Boyd . 
Francis E. Boyd 



George Bush 

Stephen Cabot . 
Dr. Samuel F. Coues 



[See note on p. 43.] 

General commanding Fort Warren. 
Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 
Engineer Corps, Brashear City, La. 
Fifth Regiment M.V.M. (prisoner after Bull 
Run). 

Captain Eleventh Regiment Mass. Vols. 

General of colored troops. 

Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 

Second lieutenant First Mass. Artillery; 

captain Forty-first Regiment Infantry ; 

captain Third Cavalry ; major Fourth 

Artillery. Promoted, for gallant conduct, 

to brevet lieutenant-colonel. 
Captain Thirteenth Regiment Mass. Vols. 

Killed at Chancellors ville. 
Colonel U.S. Artillery. 
Surgeon U.S. Navy. 



NOTES. 



117 



George L. Dyer . 
J. Frank Emmons 
Dr. Daniel Gilbert 
Watson Gore, jun. 
Dr John Green . 
John Hayes 
James Hayes 
Albert Hunnewell 
Dr. William Ingalls 
Edward Lloyd Jones 

Charles Jones . 

Jones 

Charles Robinson Johnson 
Edward John Kidder 

Chas. Cartwright Lawrence 
Ellis Loring Motte 
Grenville B. Macomber 
Robert McKelvey 
Michael R. Morgan 
James G. Miller . 
Horatio Newhall 
Francis S. Nichols 
Frederick Odiorne 



Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 

Lieutenant Forty-fifth Regiment M.V.M. 

Surgeon in army. 

Signal Corps. 

Surgeon. 

Cavalry. 

Killed at Antietam. 

Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 

Surgeon Fifth Regiment M.V.M. 

Captain Fifty-fourth Regiment M.V.M.; 

major by brevet. 
Signal Corps. 

Captain Light Battery. 

Captain Twelfth Regiment Mass. Vols. 

Killed at Spottsylvania Court-House. 
Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 
First lieutenant Thirteenth Mass. Battery. 
Color-sergt. Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 
Fifty-sixth Regiment M.V.M. 
Brigadier-general U.S.A. 

Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 

Second lieutenant Forty -fourth Regt. M.V.M. 



Il8 SOUTH CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH. 



G. L. Odiorne . 
William M. Olin 
J. Henry Olin . 
Albert Kidder Page 
Robert Bates Palfrey 
Edwin Pettingill 
Charles E. Read 
William Howell Reed 
Cyrus Alger Sears 
J. Franklin Smith 



Joseph Franklin Tenney 
Nathaniel Wales 



Clifton Whall . 

Dr. Allston Waldo Whitney 



Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 

Thirty-sixth Regiment Mass. Vols. 

Fifth Light Battery Mass. Vols. 

Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 

Forty-third Regiment M.V.M. and U.S.N. 

Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 

Forty-fourth Regiment M.V.M. 

Hospital duty under U.S. Sanitary Commiss. 

Lieutenant Forty-fifth Regiment M.V.M. 

Forty-first Regiment Mass. Volunteers and 
Third Cavalry. 

Captain Thirtieth Regiment Mass. Vols. 

Private Company G, - Twenty-fourth Mass. 
Vols. ; first lieutenant Thirty-second 
Regiment Mass. Vols. ; adjutant Thirty- 
fifth Regiment Mass. Vols. ; major Thirty- 
fifth Regiment Mass. Vols. Promoted to 
brevet lieutenant-colonel "for conspicuous 
gallantry while in command of the Thirty- 
fifth Mass. Vols, at the siege of Knox- 
ville, Tenn. ; " again promoted to brevet 
colonel for bravery in action. 

Forty -fourth Regiment M.V.M. 



Dr. Josiah Newell Willard 

Dr. Abram Wilder, jun. . 
Gustavus A. Winsor . 
C. D. Woodbury 



NOTES. 119 

Assistant surgeon Nineteenth Regiment 
Mass. Vols. Promoted to surgeon First 
Regiment Heavy Artilery. 

Surgeon. 

Ensign U.S. Navy. 

Hospital-steward Forty-fourth Regiment 
M.V.M. 



